INTRODUCTION
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Each year, the American Lung Association assesses the toll that ozone air pollution places on our nation’s ability to breathe. This year, the American Lung Association State of the Air: 2003 finds that many Americans breathed in less ozone air pollution between 1999 and 2001, compared with the previous two three-year periods (1998-2000 and 1997-1999). This is good news—but not nearly good enough. The American Lung Association State of the Air: 2003 finds that, between 1999 and 2001, there were still 137 million Americans—nearly half the nation—who were living in counties with an unhealthy amount of ozone.
The main ingredient in smog, ozone is a potent respiratory irritant which poses an especially large danger during the summer months in urban areas. Children, the elderly, and those with chronic lung disease are at greatest risk of suffering serious breathing problems caused by ozone. |
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The improvement in ozone levels seen in 1999-2001 is likely due to favorable weather conditions rather than significant new measures to reduce pollution. Clear signs of that are the early reports of extremely high ozone levels in 2002, a period not covered by this report1. In fact, much air pollution cleanup has been stalled during the past five years because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to take steps to enforce the more protective ozone standard adopted in 1997. This tighter standard would prevent tens of thousands of asthma attacks and hospitalizations and other illnesses for asthma and other respiratory diseases and millions of days of missed work and school. Not only has this more protective standard not been enforced, but the Clean Air Act is itself in danger of being weakened by the current Administration, despite the law’s record of effectiveness which has led to a significant reduction of almost all major air pollutants since 1970.
As an indication of how far we still need to go to protect our citizens from dirty air, over half (55.8%) of counties monitored for ozone had an unacceptably high number of high ozone days.
In 2000, the American Lung Association initiated its State of the Air annual assessment to provide citizens with easy-to-understand reports on the quality of the
air in their communities that are based on concrete data and sound science. Counties are assigned grades ranging from A through F based on how often their air quality crosses into the unhealthful categories of EPA’s Air Quality Index for ground-level ozone (smog) pollution. The Air Quality Index is, in turn, based on the national air quality standards. The air quality standard for ozone used as the basis for this report, 0.08 parts per million averaged over an eight-hour period, was adopted by the EPA in 1997 based on the most recent health effects information. The grades in this report are assigned based on the quality of the air in areas, and do not reflect an assessment of efforts to implement controls that improve air quality. The grades should not be interpreted as an evaluation of the work of any state or local air pollution control program.
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Ozone is not the only air pollutant that endangers the lungs. Of the long list of lung hazards, the other most pervasive pollutant is particulate matter, or soot. Particulate matter air pollution is especially harmful to people with lung disease such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, as well as people with heart disease. Exposure to particulate air pollution can shorten human life by months or years, as well as trigger asthma attacks and cause wheezing, coughing, and respiratory irritation in individuals with sensitive airways.
A new nationwide monitoring system is tracking the smallest and most dangerous of the fine particles, those with diameter of 2.5 microns or less, which lodge deep inside the lung when inhaled. Data from those monitors are not included in this report because many of the monitors had problems in the first year they were operating. This means that while some areas have three full years of reliable data, others do not. Because of this discrepancy, the American Lung Association will wait until 2004 to incorporate fine particle data into this report, when all areas will have three years of comprehensive data.
It is important to note that many areas have unhealthy levels of both pollutants—ozone and fine particles. However, some areas that have no or few unhealthy ozone days may still have unhealthy air from particulates. |
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